Rächen
by Animegirl1129
Summary: Grimm. Nick/Eddie, pre-slash. Eddie is diligently focusing on completing an order for a clock when he feels some sort of intrinsic fear wash over him. He knows that something is really wrong. But, what?
1. Chapter 1

Rächen

_**This is finally finished! Huzzah! This is my first foray into Grimm fandom, and my characterization is still working itself out, so there's a little OOC-ness. Much thanks to darkorangecat for her help in getting this beast finished. OC's are mine, NBC characters are not. Comments are awesome and I hope this is enjoyed!**_

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><p>Eddie is diligently focusing on completing an order for a clock when he feels some sort of intrinsic fear wash over him. It comes out of nowhere and just floods his senses, making him sweaty and cold all at the same time. His vision blurs out of focus for a second and his heart speeds up, he starts to shift like he does when he's near someone wearing red. It's then that he knows that something is really wrong. But, what?<p>

He looks to the door and then out the big, bay window in front of his desk, trying to pinpoint the trouble, but he gets nothing. He looks at his phone, half expecting a call that will inform him of what's going on, but the device remains traitorously silent, too.

So he lets the change settle over him, trying to use the weird feeling to figure out its cause, and he hits on a scent he hasn't been near in several days. Nick. It's Nick and Nick is in trouble. He has to be, there's no other reason for this feeling.

He's up and heading toward the door before that thought really even processes and he doesn't know where he's going exactly, but he's going there as fast as he can.

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><p>All in all, he ends up outside the police station, which was certainly not his first choice of destinations. He can smell Nick everywhere around here, but he's not sure if this is where the trouble is. A man walks out, smelling stronger of Nick's scent than others, indicating that they probably spend a lot of time together, and he recognizes him from when Nick came barging into his home and, subsequently, into his life. Partners, then. "Hey, hey," he starts, approaching the man while working harder than usual to keep his<em> blutbad<em> instincts in check. "You're Detective… ugh, Detective Griffin, right? You work with Nick?"

"Who's asking?" The man questions as he keeps waking away, though his eyes narrow in thinly veiled suspicion.

"I'm, I'm his…." He struggles for the right word to describe the really bizarre and unlikely relationship between Grimm and _blutbad_. He settles on, "friend. And I think something's wrong."

"With Nick?" He asks, turning to face the stranger for the first time, "why?" Recognition seems to set in then, and a hand levels on his gun. "Wait a minute, you're the guy Nick thought kidnapped that girl…"

Eddie holds up both his hands in an I-mean-no-harm sort of gesture meant to diffuse any building tensions. "Yeah, yeah, I am. But Nick and I, he came back to apologize afterward, after you caught the guy who actually did it, I mean, obviously," he lies, "We're friends, I swear. He stops in to steal my coffee and bagels a couple times a week."

Detective Griffin is clearly not convinced, but seems interested by Eddie's claim, "and you think he's in danger? Do you have any evidence to support that idea?"

"I just… Is he here?" Eddie pushes, since it's not like he can explain the complexities of the _blutbaden _sense of smell to a civilian. "I need to talk to him. I tried calling him on the way here, but he wasn't answering."

"He was here earlier, but he left. Said he wasn't feeling well and headed home, about an hour ago. Now," the Detective responds tersely, curling a hand around Eddie's arm to keep him from bolting with that information, "what's this about?"

Eddie could easily break free, but he briefly entertains the thought that maybe back-up isn't a bad idea when he doesn't know what he's up against. Granted, having an uninformed civilian around, one who can't _see_, at that, isn't going to help him much if something supernatural is behind this. "I don't know, man. I just know that he's in trouble, okay? I need to find him. Can you show me where he lives? I've never been there; he's always showing up at my place."

Detective Griffin seemed to have been starting to accept things thus far, with the causal use of Nick's first name and the mention of phone calls, but the lack of knowledge of the whereabouts of Nick's home causes some doubts to spring up. "I can't tell you that. For all I know, you're completely having me on here. Nice try, I get why you're pissed at him, but I don't believe you."

While Eddie can understand the lack of trust – after all, the only time this other Detective has seen him was immediately following Nick's accusations, and the subsequent destruction of his house as the police searched for a little girl who wasn't there while he sat idly in a cop car – it's still a giant pain the ass. "Look. I can find him on my own; I was hoping you could speed things up a little. He could be hurt, could be dying. I thought his partner would be watching out for him a little more than this." He's fully prepared to get to work now that he knows the Detective isn't inclined to help him. "Either take me to his place or let me go."

The hold on his arms drops, but the Detective makes no move, at first, to lead him to Nick. It's just as Eddie's waking away that there's a long suffering sigh and a "Fine. Get in the car."

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><p>Eddie's got the location figured out about halfway there, but finding the right direction would've taken time he didn't want to waste. The unmarked car pulls up in front of Nick's place, and he's suddenly assaulted with a new scent, one intermingled with Nick's to a more extreme degree than Detective Griffin. The scent is female, and it's everywhere, and for some reason, this development does not please Eddie in the slightest.<p>

So, he's not surprised to find the house occupied when they pull up outside. "Looks like Juliette's home," Detective Griffin – Hank – says, spotting the woman in the window, "let's go see if I'm crazy for listening to you or not."

Eddie stays a few paces back as they approach, unsure about why Nick never mentioned the girl. He's sure they're together, but does she know about what he is? He's not sure Nick would appreciate any further overlapping of his life as a cop and his life as a Grimm.

"Juliette," Hank greets when the door opens, "how are you?" Short pleasantries are exchanged, and she lets them both inside. "Nick's friend," his emphasis on the word suggests that he's still not quite convinced, "was looking for him, has he come back?"

"Isn't he with you?" Juliette counters, looking genuinely confused by the question. "He's on shift tonight, right?"

The conversation continues on, and then they're both asking Eddie questions about his suspicions, but he can't answer. In sifting through the array of smells – Nick, Juliette, the scents of many animals that cling to her, Hank, the lingering traces of Marie, the plethora of scented cleaning items – he hits on one that unnerves him far more than the strange feeling that got him here.

Blood.

Nick's blood.

It's not much, but it's more than any mundane injury would amount to. It's mingled with the scent of fear and anger and he's walking through the house like he knows every inch of it trying to find the source.

"Hey!" Hank is shouting, and they're both following after him. "Where are you going? Get back here!"

He's still not listening, can't hear anything but the pulse of his own blood echoing in his ears as he focuses on the metallic scent of Nick's blood in the air and the not so fantastic feelings that accompany it. Eddie finds signs of a struggle and a small pool of blood on the back steps, with a few stray drops leading to the street. There, he finds the lingering stench of burned rubber and exhaust.

Someone took Nick.

"What's going on?" Hank asks, when they find him standing stock still at the edge of the road.

Mixed in with the overwhelming scent of Nick's blood, he hits on something else that's disturbingly familiar. Wolfsbane. And beneath that is the muddled scent of _Blutbaden_. If he's not mistaken, he knows who they are.

"Don't follow me." He warns, and then he's off.

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><p>He follows the scent of blood and <em>blutbaden<em> deep into the woods. Nick's captors seem to have found a sheltered cabin of their own in which to enact their revenge, but at least Eddie is totally aware of their motives.

As he nears their hideaway, he can clearly scent several members of his family. They are all far from reformed and definitely not happy with his continued fraternization with the enemy. Whether they're doing this for his safety - because, to them, a Grimm is a Grimm and Grimm's are dangerous heathens who kill creatures like _blutbaden_ indiscriminately – or if this is solely about avenging grandfathers and great-grandmothers, he isn't sure. Either way, they're not hurting Nick without a fight.

He barges in without any semblance of stealth – if they took Nick, they had to have known he'd figure it out – and is not at all surprised by the betrayed looks they're all shooting at him. "Ah, and the prodigal son returns," his older brother, James, snarks at him. His younger sister, Dana, shakes her head at him in clear disappointment as he shoves by them.

"How could you do this to us?" His father, David, booms at him when he walks into the next room of the small cabin. It's there in that windowless room that he finds Nick, passed out and tied up. Wrists bound behind his back so tight that he can smell fresh blood from those wounds alone, legs tied to the chair, gagged, blindfolded. They really didn't want Nick getting away. Blood is drying on his face, from where it dripped from a congealed would on his scalp just over a blackened eye.

"I think the better question is what the hell were you thinking, kidnapping a Grimm and a detective? Like that's just going to blow over." He's shifting back and forth, trying to reign himself in. His fingers curl and uncurl into fists, claws protracting and retracting as he moves. He's tense in a way he can't remember ever being before, not with the urge to attack the easy prey that is presently Nick, but rather to fiercely protect him. "Let him go and I'll try to talk him out of going after you for this."

"Now, Edward," a surprising voice says, emerging from the only other room in the cabin. His grandmother, Lila, looks stern and angry as always. His mother, Jen, accompanies her and she, too, does not look pleased with his choices. "Certainly you aren't trying to protect this filthy, little butcher from the revenge he so deserves?"

"We've been trying to decide whether to chase him down like the animal he is or to do what his kind did to grandfather," James says, coming up behind Eddie and blocking him into the room. "Chop off his hands and feet, and then his head. See how he likes that torture. Chasing him might be too easy, what with the head injury; I'm leaning toward the second option, myself."

Eddie is entirely shifted now. The red of Nick's blood as it drips onto the floor should be turning him into even more of a beast, one that's ready to kill for more blood, but all its doing is fueling the rage against his family. But maybe that's because to him, right now, they are the enemy. "You're not killing him."

"Why are you doing this?" Dana questions, a hand settling on his shoulder as if she hasn't completely disowned his presence within the family. "You know what he is, what his kind have done to us!"

"Not him," Eddie defends. His attention is fixed on his father, who is clearly unaware of the threat he is presently posing by being between he and Nick, and Eddie hasn't missed that he's been edging closer and closer to the chair. "Get away from him. I ripped a reaper's arm off to protect someone he cared about, what do you think I'll do for him? And I won't be stopped just because it's you standing there."

His grandmother lets out a howl at that confession. "You're a traitor. You're defending him and he's killed our kind!"

"Fine, yes, he's killed a _blutbad_, but he was on a spree – there wasn't another option." Eddie counters, as there are limits to what can be condoned even amongst the most beastly of his kind; things that risk the exposure of their kind are highly frowned upon. He's moving forward himself now, intent to stop his father's steady progress toward his presently vulnerable friend, but one of the other's lands a well-aimed blow to the small of his back, the weakest point on their bodies, and he goes down in a howling, writhing mass of fur and anger at the low blow. "If you touch him, I swear…"

James is over him then, wrapping his hands tight with bonds he can't easily break even with the extra strength that being shifted offers him. He growls and tries to kick enough to throw his brother off of him, but his sister steps in to keep him still and before he knows it, he's effectively restrained, too.

"You know, Eddie," James starts, as they lay the still unconscious Nick out on the floor just in front of him. They cut the ropes binding him, but only to retie them so they can get at wrists and ankles, and he's sans blindfold and gag now, too – presumably so he can see what's coming at him and so they can hear him scream. "When we first saw you with the Grimm, we thought you were just luring him in, preparing to catch him before you told us about your find. Maybe to redeem yourself for your poor choices in walking away from what you truly are. Maybe fattening up the scrawny, little heathen before you made your move." A knife comes out, then. They could certainly do it with claws, but apparently they're opting for mimicking what was done to grandfather all those years ago. "When we realized you had no such intention, we knew we had to step in. For your own good, Eddie. He'd only turn on you."

Eddie's shaking, with rage and an inexplicable fear of harm coming to Nick. "He wouldn't. Nick trusts me. He left me alone with his aunt, the Grimm in his family before him, to protect her when she was sick."

"So he used you, then. As a glorified guard dog." His mother pipes in. "You don't mean anything to him. And you're a fool to think otherwise."

"Well. Then I guess I'm a fool," he responds, he knows better than to think that what she says is true.

James is preparing yet another undoubtedly witty comment regarding Eddie's loyalties when a groan from Nick disrupts him. All eyes land on the injured detective and "Oh, good, this'll be even more fun now that he's awake," is now his brother's response.

Nick winces and his eyes open, just barely, but he looks unfocused and disoriented. "…what? Where am I?" His voice is rough and dry, and the words come out slurred. His bump to the head must've been pretty bad, Eddie thinks, if he's that out of it. "What's goin' on?"

"Not much," James continues, hovering over Nick as he and their father finish restraining arms and legs that are starting to move as their captive gains a little bit more coherency. "Just gonna kill you."

The squirming really picks up then, and Eddie sees Nick's eyes blow wide in response, can hear his heart racing and smell the fresh blood that comes from his head wound as a result of his sharp movements. "_Blutbad_," Nick decides, though he's clearly confused about this observation. "Why do you look like Eddie?"

"Eddie?" James laughs, yet another nefarious idea forming in his mind, "Eddie's the one who brought you here. You didn't think he'd give up the chance to avenge our family, did you, Grimm?" While this is clearly an attempt to prove to him that Nick's not his ally, Eddie's almost afraid of what Nick's delirium induced response is. He wants to shout out that he'd never betray Nick, but his father is beside him now, covering his mouth to keep him quiet.

"You're lying." Nick doesn't hesitate to defend him. Immediately following this statement, however, comes one hell of a coughing fit that reminds Eddie that Nick had just gone home sick when he was grabbed. "Eddie wouldn't."

"Fine," his brother says, curling his fingers into blood-matted hair and pulling enough to earn an awful sort of choked noise that Eddie never wants to hear Nick make again. "He didn't bring you here, but it's because of him we found you."

Eddie has had enough, though. He bites down on the hand that's preventing him from talking and his father pulls away with a frustrated growl. "Get off of him!" He roars, struggling against his own bonds when his brother doesn't release his hold on Nick's hair.

Another coughing fit interrupts Nick's hopeful, "Eddie?" but his face reflects pure fear when he sees the loyal _blutbad_ tied up before him.

"Enough!" His grandma declares, sick of their back and forth conversation. "Just get on with it already. I'm all for dragging it out, but preferably sooner rather than later, blood needs to be shed."

"With pleasure," James answers, now brandishing the knife threateningly in front of Nick's face. "Where should I start? Hands or feet? His head is definitely last – we can't have him missing the good parts."

A new level of rage is pulsing through Eddie and he feels his claws extending further than they ever have before, his teeth longer, just at the mere threat of violence. When his brother settles the blade over Nick's wrist at his grandmother's suggestion, all he can see is red.

Nick's squirming and trying to fight, but the knife slices into skin, over the wounds from his earlier bindings, pulling fresh blood to the surface. It drips down to the ground and Eddie knows that when enough of it is spilled, animal instincts will kick in and the rest of his _blutbaden_ family won't be able to control themselves and nothing will stop them from killing Nick, then. Nick shouts in protest as the knife digs deeper, but he's cut off when he starts coughing again. Eddie hears the knife grate against bone and his stomach rolls in protest as the thought registers. He needs to act.

Now.

"I've warned you," Eddie growls out in a voice that doesn't sound like his own. His claws break through his restraints as if they're not even there and he's shoving his brother away before the others have even realized he's free. He snaps the restraints holding Nick down in seconds, eyes darting around the room to make sure everyone stays away as he pulls his friend in close so he's more easily protected. "You'll get him over my dead body."

James is stumbling back to his feet on the other side of the room, swaying where he stands and picking the remnants of the wooden chair Nick had been tied to out of his clothes. "How'd he get out?" His brother asks, clearly surprised by Eddie's actions. "There's no way he broke those ties."

Eddie curls himself around the Grimm, a defensive posture if ever one did exist. Nick's grabbing at him, in the midst of another coughing fit with all the sudden movements, and Eddie is emitting a constant, low growling noise that demands no one come any closer.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! Don't think we'll spare him just because you're pretending he's your mate." Grandma scoffs, as if she can't believe he'd dare to do something so outlandish. A _blutbad _and a Grimm? Impossible.

Now that this suggestion has been posed, five pairs of eyes turn toward Eddie and Nick. "I don't think he's pretending." David counters.

To his own credit, Eddie had been starting to come to the same conclusion. It certainly explains his easy loyalty to Nick and why he knew Nick was in trouble and why Juliette's presence disturbed him so much. If Nick's supposed to be his mate, then it explains why he's not attacking him despite the blood and why he's willing to go after his own family to protect him. What he doesn't understand is how he's going to get them out of this mess. There are rules protecting mates – they're stupidly difficult to find and generally seen as off-limits as a result – but he's pretty sure his family is willing to place killing a Grimm over the sanctity of those rules.

"Is it true?" Dana asks, directing the question at Eddie, who's the only one who can actually answer it.

Eddie's still in crazy protective mode, so his only response is a quiet, "mine," before he reverts to his low, warning growls.

Nick, who's still delirious and concussed and losing a fair amount of blood, is trying to follow the conversation and figure out what the hell is going on. "Wait, I'm what?" His query, however, is ignored, as the only person who'd be inclined to answer him is still intently focused on the five threats surrounding them.

"No way are you joining up with a Grimm, Eddie," James protests. "It completely dishonors all _blutbaden_, everything that's been done to us by their kind. It's not happening."

"You know we don't get a say in who our mates are," Dana defends. She, at least, seems willing to honor the unwritten rules, and she backs off a respectable distance in order to further prove this to Eddie. "If the Grimm's his mate then the Grimm's his mate and we can't touch him."

James laughs at that, "Oh? Watch me." He lunges forward, shifted himself now and swings. His claws graze Nick's chest, tearing his shirt and drawing more blood along the thin, red lines left in the wake of the attack. James slams into both of them, knocking them backwards, but Eddie's up and retaliating in no time.

A fight breaks out between the two brothers, blows are exchanged and blood is drawn. Eddie's hyper-extended claws prove to be a very helpful side-effect of the threat against Nick, making his work that much easier. He dodges a blow hurtling toward his face and it glances harmlessly off his shoulder so he swipes at James' stomach, leaving some claw marks of his own. He keeps his back to the wall and away from his family, so they can't down him with another blow to the back again. Dana's shouting at them to stop, but neither of them are registering it, can't, won't, not until the fight's over. Eddie really wants it over fast - Nick still needs protecting, no way to know whose side his mom and dad will be on and chances are Grandma's not giving up her hatred of Grimm's anytime soon, either. James is coming at him again, but with a final, enraged lunge, Eddie gets his hands around his brother's neck and holds on. It only takes a few minutes to knock him out that way, and the bloody claw marks left in his neck only offer Eddie a sense of sickening vindication as he lets the other _blutbad _crash to the floor. The wolf inside him seems somewhat appeased by the temporary elimination of a threat but does not seem satisfied that James was not permanently eliminated as a risk to Nick's wellbeing.

Dana moves to check on James, but Eddie is all focused on Nick. He's passed out again, whether from his earlier injuries or new ones, or some combination of the two. The sight of Nick unmoving on the ground and marred with fresh blood is enough to make him semi-coherent, capable of speech once again. "I had to protect him," he says, in his own defense as his eyes the rest of his family warily. "He's mine."

"We could use this to our advantage," his father suggests. "Imagine if we could control a Grimm, the power we'd have."

That spurs another growl from Eddie. "Yeah, that's not happening, either."

"Dad," Dana pipes in, once she's sure her oldest brother is not too badly injured. "I'd suggest you stop pushing that idea if you don't want to experience what James just did. Just a thought."

"I would agree with that," their mother adds, an arm curling around her husband's to pull him away enough so that they aren't seen as threats. David gives in with a disappointed huff, but Eddie suspects he'll try to bring up the idea again later if given the chance. He is, however, surprised to note that their begrudging grandmother respectively backs off, as well, though she does so with a rather irritated scowl on her face.

"Take him and go," David says. "Before your brother wakes up."

So that's what Eddie does.


	2. Chapter 2

Rächen

_**This is finally finished! Huzzah! This is my first foray into Grimm fandom, and my characterization is still working itself out, so there's a little OOC-ness. Much thanks to darkorangecat for her help in getting this beast finished. OC's are mine, NBC characters are not. Comments are awesome and I hope this is enjoyed! Yeah... there will probably be a sequel...  
><strong>_

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><p>He gets Nick as far as the main road out of the woods before he calls for an ambulance. He could call Hank, but then that would lead to sharing Nick with Juliette once they get to the hospital and he doesn't want that right now. Not when there are going to be questions about what all that was about once Nick's awake. He doesn't want to have to explain <em>blutbaden<em> mating habits in front of any more people than necessary. Usually, they only bond to their own kind, though there have been exceptions before. The attachment to another male aspect is not the issue, and is, in fact, not a rare occurrence at all. No, it's definitely the Grimm part that's pissing off his family.

When the paramedics arrive, Eddie gives them a fake name to buy some time. "I found him on the side of the road like this," he lies, "I don't know what happened." They let him ride along.

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><p>Nick wakes up in the ambulance, dizzy and nauseous. The paramedics give him pain medication and patch up the wounds on his chest and wrist as best they can. They give him an oxygen mask once the coughing starts up again.<p>

Eddie watches on carefully, keeps himself from growling every time the medic has to hurt Nick to help him, keeps himself from reaching out.

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><p>They spend a while in the ER, but it looks like there's no avoiding the getting admitted part of the process. The wrist wound requires stitches, though thankfully it was from the top and therefore mostly superficial. Had it been from below, where veins and arteries would have been severed, Nick would have bled out long before they escaped the cabin. The cut on his head requires a few stitches, too. The claw marks get cleaned and re-bandaged, and the only lingering issues are the concussion and the coughing – which turns out to be a rather badly timed case of pneumonia. The stress of what happened had certainly exacerbated it, but he's on oxygen and IV fluids and antibiotics to help with that; along with some blood to replenish what was lost. So, they want to keep him overnight, mostly for observation.<p>

Eddie's not allowed in for a while, not until they've got him stable and mostly fixed up. And somehow, despite all the pain medication, Nick is still awake when they let him in.

"How'd you get us out?" Is the first thing Nick asks, the words muffled through the oxygen mask they're making him wear.

Seeing that Nick's okay lets Eddie relax a little bit, but not much. He makes sure to face the door at all times, and he's grateful that the room doesn't have a window he'd have to watch. "I knocked my brother out, the others stopped after that."

"Why?"

"There are rules. They opted not to break them." Another round of coughing interrupts Nick's next question, but Eddie's pretty sure it amounts to 'Rules for what?' so that's the question he has to answer. "Oh, boy. So we've already established that _blutbaden_ get compared to wolves a lot, yeah? Well, wolves mate for life. And so do _blutbaden_. Mates are generally off-limits to attack since the chances of actually finding your mate are really, really low."

"And you think I'm-" Nick starts, but Eddie's not sure if it's another coughing fit or just shock that makes him stop mid-question.

Eddie shakes his head. "No, I don't _think_ you're my mate. I know it. What happened at the cabin proved it, I wouldn't have reacted the way I did if you weren't." He drags his hands over his face and sighs in something beyond exhaustion.

Nick, apparently, interprets those actions differently. "Guess you weren't expecting this, either, then." He manages, though his voice is hoarse from all the coughing now.

"No, it's… protecting you is going to be exhausting."

"Who says I need protecting?" Nick counters, but all Eddie has to do is motion to their surroundings to prove that his point is obvious.

"Ugh, dude, I don't know if you've noticed but you're in the hospital," he adds, which is inherently unnecessary. "But, really. Watching your back from a distance is going to make this so much more difficult. I met Juliette earlier tonight, so I know I can't keep you on my territory." He hates that he has to let whatever it is that Nick and Juliette have together burn out on its own – it has to, or else Nick wouldn't be his mate – but there's not really another option that ends well.

This seems to throw Nick. "You're not… I mean, I can stay with Juliette?"

Eddie laughs, a dry mirthless sound that lacks his usual wittiness. "What? Are you asking my permission? You're mine as far as all the other _blutbaden_ are concerned and right now that's all that matters. We'll deal with the rest later."

"Later?"

"Yeah. Later. They're gonna kick me out of here soon. At least out of your room. I'll stay nearby."

Nick isn't convinced by Eddie's explanation of 'later,' but he's stuck in yet another round of protesting from his lungs, when Eddie's prediction comes true. A nurse enters and politely requests that Eddie take his leave so Nick can get some sleep. They both watch her carefully, verifying that she isn't a creature, and he promises to leave in just a few minutes.

"I'll call your partner, let him know what's going on. I'm sure he'll tell Juliette where to find you." Eddie says, heading toward the door. "I'll be back if there's trouble."

* * *

><p>Eddie is surprised that the rest of Nick's time spent in the hospital goes smoothly. Hank and Juliette show up shortly after Eddie calls, since Detective Griffin can wave his way past visiting hours with his badge. He spends his time in the waiting room when Hank and Juliette aren't around to ask him questions or circling the building, searching for traces of any scents that could mean trouble. He finds none.<p>

In the afternoon, Nick is discharged. He looks better, but the coughing is still persistent. Hank drives them home and Eddie isn't far behind them. Once he's sure Nick is safe and relatively secure in his house, he heads back to his own place to try to catch a little sleep.

He stays awake long enough to secure his own place, making sure none of his family has been around recently. As soon as he's sure he's clear, he collapses on his bed and passes out.

* * *

><p><em>Fear. Pain. Anger. Help. Eddie. Eddie. Eddie. Help. Pain. Agony. Terror. Eddie. Mate. Eddie. Danger. EddieEddieEddieEddie.<em>

The same feeling that started all of this is back. It violently pulls Eddie back to consciousness and leaves him with a string of words echoing in his head that do not suggest good things. He feels like he's going to be sick as a more intense version of the feeling surrounds him, like he's drowning in it. He's dizzy when he stands up, and sore from all the fighting and struggling, but he stumbles toward the door even though the world is spinning.

His vision clears when he gets outside. It flashes red as he senses trouble. More trouble, that is. James.

The blow comes out of nowhere. That actually isn't true. It comes from behind him, just as Eddie is wheeling around to where he's figured out James is hiding. And because James is a giant ass, he aims for the _blutbaden_ weak spot. Again. Eddie goes down hard, the air knocked from his lungs as he struggles to his feet before his brother can attack again.

"You might be older, but you won't beat me," Eddie says, blocking a couple of claw-swipes aimed at his face. He manages to get in a kick that knocks James back a few paces. "You're not fighting for anyone."

James growls, "I'm fighting against someone. How does that work?"

Eddie gets in a few hits before James catches him in the face with an elbow, which is way less painful than claws, at least. James tackles him to the ground and has him pretty effectively pinned when luck gets him out of trouble. A young man in a bright red t-shirt jogs by. He looks startled by the fight and pulls out his phone to call the police, but James is already closing in. Eddie grabs for him, stopping him before he can actually reach the jogger and drags his claws down his brother's lower back, digging in as much as he can.

James is cursing and writhing in pain on the ground, clutching his wounds. Eddie would like to make sure his brother is no longer a threat to his mate, but this was meant to be a diversion, to keep him away from the Grimm, he's sure, so he takes off as fast as he can for Nick's place. Where the real trouble is.

* * *

><p>The speed at which he gets to Nick's place suggests a complete disregard for the speed limit and various other traffic laws. It is an absolute wonder that he doesn't get pulled over on the way there, and he barely remembers to stop the car before he's out of it and running for the door. He can already smell blood and that is not good. Especially since he also smells his Grandma.<p>

He shoulder rams the front door until it gives and he's inside and searching instantly. He finds Juliette passed out just inside the door with a bump to the head rather similar to the one Nick received when he was taken, but she's still breathing, so he continues on.

Eddie clears the first floor and is heading upstairs when another wave of the awful feeling hits him. More pain, more fear. A scream follows those feelings and he's almost afraid to see what his grandmother could be doing to make Nick scream like that.

He finds his answer in the room at the top of the stairs. He opts for a more stealthy approach there, barely cracking the door open, and the sight that greets him is one that he'll never forget no matter how much he'll want to.

"Eddie," Nick says, and Eddie absently wonders how Nick can see him, since he's tied face-down to the bed and his head is turned away from the door. Then he realizes Nick hasn't seen him, "EddieEddieEddieEddieEddie," he just keeps saying it over and over again and maybe that's why the connection between them is so much stronger now.

"He's won't save you, Grimm. Shut up, and let me finish leaving my message." His Grandma complains, thwacking him on the back of the head before she returns to her work. She leans over him again, a sharpened claw poised over Nick's lower back, where his shirt has been pulled up to expose unmarred skin. Blood is dripping down his sides and pooled over the line of his spine, and Nick is shouting again so Eddie barges in as the rage takes over again.

The arm he grabs to stop whatever it is that she's doing to Nick makes an audible cracking noise as it breaks with the force he uses when he twists it, but she's swinging at him with her other hand, claws out and prepared to do as much damage as possible. She gets in a decent swipe that rakes its way down his arm, drawing blood. "You won't stop me! I will kill him!"

Eddie is beyond words again, as the possessive defensiveness builds and builds and he lets his instincts take over. All he sees is red and the loud, growling roar he emits would probably suffice as a warning to most anyone with half a brain to back off. In dodging a few more blows, he catches hold of his grandmother, dragging her backward and away from Nick. He slams her hard into the nearest wall and the fact that this results in a forceful blow to the lower back seems kind of like justice.

"You better watch him close," she warns as she struggles against Eddie, trying to dig claws in wherever she can. "I'm not the only one not okay with this. If it isn't me who gets him, someone else will. So don't go getting too attached." With that threat in place, Eddie's even more unglued, so when she manages to get a hand free and he sees it stabbing toward his chest, he makes the first move. The next thing he knows, she collapses to the ground, her head at an unnatural angle that suggests she won't be waking up again.

Eddie just stands there. Suddenly he feels dizzy with the rapid decrease in adrenaline as his claws retract and he shifts back to human. He's shaking, and his eyes can't quite focus on the body on the floor because he's honestly not sure how he's supposed to react. There are conflicting interests forming in his mind – one of family and grandmother and pack, the other of mate and Nick and everything – and mate is winning out, so he feels nothing in response to what he's done other than a small sadness that he couldn't talk her down.

He finds himself spurred back into action when Nick makes this awful, pathetic noise that sounds almost like his name. Eddie's beside him immediately, hands settling on Nick's shoulders in a reassuring motion as he snaps the ties keeping him bound to the bed. "I, ugh-" Nick starts, voice barely audible from the rough combination of screaming with pneumonia induced coughing. He tries to sit up, but Eddie pushes him back down, with a soft 'No, stay still,' when he finally spots what his grandmother had been doing and suddenly her comment about leaving a message makes more sense.

Red lines blemish the skin of Nick's lower back – like that placement wasn't symbolic at all for _blutbaden_ – and it takes a second for the word to stand out amongst the pool of blood.

'_Rächen_,' it reads. It takes Eddie a moment to register what the word means, it's been a while since his mom taught him bits and pieces of German and his tenuous grasp on the language eludes him at present, but eventually he gets it. "Revenge." His fingers move along the edges of the red and inflamed wounds and he's pretty sure they won't be fading away any time soon.

"She was going to," cough, "kill me and leave that for you when you found me." Nick explains, and when Eddie goes rigid and his eyes flash red, Nick reaches out and grabs Eddie's non-injured arm. "But that didn't happen. So relax."

Eddie nods, "She's… she's can't hurt you anymore." The words and shaky and, really, they're both probably in shock right now with everything they've been through. "Don't move," he says, when Nick tries to sit up again. "Let me get something to cover that up – then you're going back to the ER."

Nick catches his arm again and keeps him close. "Thanks, Eddie," he says quietly.

And that's when Hank bursts through the door, gun raised and turned suspiciously on Eddie who is about two seconds away from considering this yet another threat and putting an end to it here and now. Luckily, Nick is still holding on to him, and amongst a lot of coughing, he manages to keep Hank from shooting and Eddie from attacking.

"What are you doing here?" Detective Griffin asks, surveying the room and jolting in surprise when he spots the body on the floor. "What the hell happened?"

"Saved me," Nick wheezes out, clutching his chest as Eddie carefully helps him to sit up, keeping the wound out of his partner's sight for now so he doesn't have to explain what exactly is being avenged. "She attacked me; Eddie was acting in my defense."

Eddie calms himself down as best he can once the gun gets put away. "He needs to go back to the hospital."

"An ambulance is on the way. Looks like it's gonna be crowded with you two and Juliette."

"Juliette?" Nick asks, clearly concerned.

"Someone knocked her out, but she's up and moving – she's the one that called me here." Hank explains.

They hear the sirens before anything else can be said.

* * *

><p>Eddie is, unfortunately, separated from Nick upon arrival in the ER. Someone whisks him off to stitch up the long gashes that descend down his arm in a distinct claw pattern. Once that's bandaged up, they give him an ice pack for the black eye he received in the fight with James and the bruises over his lower back from the numerous strikes it's taken in the last day. They release him soon after that.<p>

Juliette is kept a little longer since they want to keep an eye on her concussion for a bit, make sure there are no issues.

But, Nick. Nick's not leaving any time soon. He's back on oxygen for the pneumonia; the stitches covering his wrist wound broke in his attempts to free himself from the ties on the bed, and so they have to be redone. The wound on his back doesn't require stitches but does require significant cleaning and bandaging, along with a plentiful amount of antibiotics.

Once they have him settled in a room again, Eddie sneaks his way in. Nick's half asleep on his side – so as not to irritate either the carving on his back or the claw marks on his chest from James – but he's awake enough to grab for the dry erase board and marker that have been provided for him so he doesn't have to talk.

"_Police have cleared you. No charges._" Nick writes out. "_Know the story for when you talk to Hank?_"

The story is the quick and dirty explanation they came up with during a few unsupervised minutes in the ambulance. The blame lands on Eddie's grandmother, who mistook Nick for the man who killed her husband so long ago and tried for revenge. Eddie's been estranged from his family – with the exception of enforced holiday meals – because of their penchant for mental instability. It works. The only bad news is that no one can find James.

"Yeah, I got it down, man," Eddie assures him, sliding into the chair at Nick's bedside, though he repositions it so that he can face the doorway and watch any passerby's for signs of an attack. The reapers should definitely be around. "Juliette's okay, I hear. They're letting her go soon. I'm sure she'll be by to see you."

"_I'm leaving her."_

Eddie stares down at the three written words and feels a sense of relief hit him hard. But then there's dread because he doesn't want Nick giving in for the wrong reasons and there are so many bad excuses right now. "Why?"

Nick frowns at him, clearly confused by the hesitant response. "_To protect her from something like this happening again. Because Marie warned me that I should've done that right away. And for you, too."_

So they aren't awful reasons, Eddie thinks, but rushing to this decision is still not a good idea. Once Nick's in, he's in for life. "Wait until you're sure about this."

"_I am._" Nick writes. "_Aren't you?_"

"You know that I am, but I need to know that you're not going to regret it." There's some concern on his part about Nick's easy acceptance of this mate thing. Sure, after discovering the Grimm thing and all the freaky stuff that came with it, it's probably not that hard for him to believe. But so far, Nick has shown no inclination that would suggest he'd even be remotely interested in this relationship if Eddie weren't claiming that there has to be something between them. Maybe Eddie isn't the only one affected by the instinctual pull of his mate, though, maybe Nick feels drawn to him, too.

"_I won't. That's what you meant earlier, right? When you said we'd deal with it later?_" He runs out of room so after he's sure Eddie's read that part he wipes it out and keeps scribbling. "_It's going to happen sooner or later, right?_"

Eddie gives in with a sigh. "Yeah. At some point you're supposed to end up with me."

Nick seems to get that there are parts of this that he doesn't quite understand yet, but he's writing again all the same. "_It'll be easier to do it now. If I end things like this, then it won't happen later when someone I'm after uses her to get to me._" Not that the same thing can't be said of being close to Eddie – he'd be a target, too – but at least he can defend himself.

"Alright, man. Well, you can't do it right now," he says. "Try and get some rest and I'll wake you up when she's released. I'll stay until someone kicks me out or Detective Griffin finds me."

Nick doesn't seem to need much convincing. His head hits the pillow and he's out soon after.

* * *

><p>Eddie hears shouting when he gets back from a lengthy talk with Hank about what went on at the house. He lies smoothly, convincingly, and there isn't any evidence to contradict his statements, especially since his statement lines up to Nick's without sounding identical and rehearsed.<p>

"_I can't believe you're doing this, Nick!_" Comes the next shouted statement in what is undoubtedly a lengthy series of them, and at least it's Juliette and not some monster out to attack the Grimm while he's injured.

He wonders what explanation he gave her. If he's telling her that he just can't deal with a relationship right now, or maybe he's telling her some semblance of the truth – that he's leaving her for Eddie. He hears a choked off "_I'm sorry_," from Nick, which isn't good because he really shouldn't be talking right now.

"_You're sorry?_" Incredulous, aggravated, exhausted. "_You're just… up and leaving me and you're sorry? That's just great._" There's some coughing then, Nick trying to get more words out. He doesn't start talking though, so maybe he switches to writing.

"_Juliette,"_ Nick tries to say, but he breaks off into one of the most intense coughing fits he's had since he woke up in the cabin, so Eddie cuts his losses and steps inside with the intention of making sure Nick stays quiet.

"Do you mind?" Juliette snaps at him, but Eddie's not really concerned by her aggravation. "We were having a private conversation."

"Exactly. He's not supposed to be talking." He crosses the room to stand beside Nick's hospital bed, so that she isn't between them. "Either he writes or this conversation is over."

She shakes her head, clearly even more on edge now that he's eavesdropping on their conversation. "What right do you have to be in here? It was your family that did this; it's your fault he's in the hospital. So why don't you leave us alone?"

Eddie opens his mouth to reply with a biting retort about just what his role in Nick's life is going to be whether or not Nick got that far in his explanation, but the sharp squeak of the dry erase marker moving fast on the board stops him. "_I'm moving in with Eddie when I'm released," _it reads, "_Leave him alone."_

"Where is this coming from!" Juliette asks in a frustrated growl of her own. "I'd never even heard anything about him until he showed up looking for you last night and now you want to live with him? What about me? His grandmother attacked us both! You don't think that matters at all?"

"She wasn't after you." Eddie tries to mollify her, but that's apparently not the answer she was looking for.

"_I don't want to talk about that_," Nick writes, though Eddie suspects that such a statement is for his benefit, as well. He's writing again when a doctor comes in to check up on his patient. "Wait," Nick says, voice rough and hoarse and the cause of more coughing and wheezing.

But she doesn't. _"No, I can't do this right now, Nick. Just… just leave me alone._"She scowls at Eddie as she turns to go, storming out of the room a second later, looking very much not happy with the world.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the doctor says. "And I have to say that if you'd like to get out of here anytime soon, Detective, you should stick to writing and avoid talking."

"So I've told him," Eddie adds, hoping he doesn't get kicked out, because he doesn't really want to leave Nick alone with that unfinished conversation hanging over them. "Anything wrong, Doc?"

The doctor shakes his head, merely looking over Nick's chart and checking his vitals. "Nope, just checking in. You're actually doing better than expected, so we may release you tomorrow barring any more complications with the pneumonia. So take it easy."

"_Will do_." Nick writes and the doctor takes his leave.

"So. That, ugh, that totally went well…" Eddie starts, after a moment of silence lapses between them. "What'd you tell her?"

"_That it's for her own good. Played the cop angle, how the job comes home sometimes and she doesn't need to deal with that_. _It's close enough to the truth._" Nick explains, scribbling out his explanation quickly.

Eddie nods, "You're still sure about this, right? Don't do it if you're not," he warns. "The longer you stay close to me, the more intense this is gonna get, man. And there's no going back."

"_I know,_" he writes, "_I did some reading before your Grandma showed up, thought it might be useful to know what I was getting myself into_." This surprises Eddie, though in a good way. The fact that he's still okay with everything despite all of the peculiarities that come with _blutbaden _mating habits only verifies that Nick's supposed to be his. "_It's done now. I'm going home with you as soon as I can_."

"Whatever you want, man," he agrees. "Now sleep so we can go home soon."

* * *

><p>Nick's released late the next day with orders to aggravate his lungs as little as possible and follow all of the discharge instructions to the letter. Nick doubts that Eddie will let get away with doing otherwise.<p>

The ride back to Eddie's place - their place - is a quick one, though there is a short detour to Nick's old place to grab some essentials whilst Juliette isn't around, and Nick sleeps most of the way back.

"Dude, we're here," Eddie says, nudging the other man lightly as they pull up to the house. Nick groggily blinks himself back to consciousness, which is slightly painful in and of itself given his own blackened eye, but he gets himself out of the car and follows Eddie to the front door without aid.

Nick settles on the couch on Eddie's orders and finds himself asleep again within moments. When he wakes sometimes later, he's covered with a blanket from the back of a nearby chair. Eddie's hovering over him with his various medications, some water and a bowl of homemade soup meant to help with his irritated throat. "Do you need anything else?" Eddie asks, offering another dry erase board and marker so Nick can easily respond.

"_I'm good, thanks_," he writes, downing the pills and chasing them with a decent sip of the water. The soup smells amazing – he has, by this point, discovered that Eddie is an awesome cook, so that's not surprising at all, really. "_What time is it?_"

"Still early, around 8," he says, claiming a seat beside Nick on the couch. "I fixed up the guestroom for you, so if you want to crash, just let me know, man."

Nick nods, just as he finishes inhaling the bowl of soup, but he shifts on the sofa until he's kind of leaning against Eddie's side. Eddie's surprised by how well they seem to fit together, and how easy they're falling into this sort of closeness, but he's certainly not complaining. He has every intention of taking this thing as slow as possible, the last thing he needs is to push Nick too far, too fast and mess it all up.

So, instead, he lets himself lean into Nick, too. He flicks on the television to some history channel documentary and leaves the volume low to avoid aggravating any lingering headaches. He inhales Nick's scent, all around him now, and for the first time since that weird feeling hit him, he lets himself relax.


End file.
